7th Annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days Set For October 1-31, 2008
Daniel Pearl World Music Days – a global network of concerts dedicated to "Harmony for Humanity" – will be held this year from October 1-31, 2008, to coincide with what would have been Danny's 45th birthday, October 10. Last year, artists representing every musical genre performed more than 500 concerts in 42 countries, spanning five continents and empowering audiences with a sense of unity and purpose in a collective call for tolerance and shared humanity.
The Foundation is honored to announce that Alison Krauss, acclaimed country bluegrass fiddler and singer, has joined our distinguished Honorary Committee. Krauss has won an unprecedented 21 Grammy awards during her career and her current CD, Raising Sand with Robert Plant, has sold more than one million copies.
Musicians are invited to register their upcoming October 2008 events online and make a dedication from the stage, or in the printed program, in support of "Harmony for Humanity." In addition to professionals of every musical genre, amateurs, schools and other youth groups are invited to join Daniel Pearl World Music Days with a musical offering -- be it a dedication of a single song or an entire performance.
Registered events are posted on the World Music Days Web site where participating musicians can create an Artist Page (with their biography, photos and links to their own Web sites, MySpace pages and YouTube videos) and also post their dedications to "Harmony for Humanity." In addition, the "Harmony for Humanity" eStage, a 24/7 dedicated internet radio station, is broadcast worldwide throughout October, and includes original compositions dedicated to the principles for which Danny lived, as well as music by the World Music Days Honorary Committee, winners of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, and Danny's own music.
To register an October performance, or learn more about this unique initiative, please visit www.danielpearlmusicdays.org. Events taking place outside the October 1-31, 2008 time frame may be registered as "Tribute Events" and will also be featured on the Web site. There is no financial obligation to participate in World Music Days.
Everyone is invited to add us as friends on our Daniel Pearl World Music Days MySpace page and ourFacebook group. Both pages have grown substantially this year and we look forward to seeing you there.
Friends of Danny's Festival (FODfest)
As part of this year's Daniel Pearl Music Days, FODfest ‘08, an annual concert tour celebrating music as a universal language, will take place from October 10-26. Now in its fourth year, the tour will feature 16 concerts on the East and West Coasts and include well over 100 musicians from across the country and beyond. FODfest is a unique acoustic format that is part concert, part song swap and part jam session. The tour features several of the musicians who knew Danny and played music with him and many who never knew him but connect with his ideals and were touched by his story. FODfest is organized and produced by Todd Mack, a former band mate and close friend of Danny's. Musicians interested in participating in FODfest should contact Todd at info@fodfest.org. More information can be found at www.fodfest.org or www.youtube.com/fodfest
World Music Days in Canada
A Canadian Committee for promoting the seventh Annual Daniel Pearl World Music Days was established in May of this year by Ron Smith with members from Temple Har Zion in Thornhill, Ontario. The committee is joined by Samantha Robichaud, an award-winning Canadian violinist and recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin in 2005, who will lead the effort in Eastern Canada and by journalist Katharine Hamer, who takes charge on Canada's West Coast.
"Most rewarding has been the support and interest from various faith groups," Smith said. "It is truly amazing how many people know artists who care – all you have to do is ask. We would be glad to share our experiences and assist anyone to start their own committee for their region or country.
Musical Compositions Dedicated to Daniel Pearl
 A New Stage featuring the track "Always Remembered" by Samantha Robichaud
Samantha Robichaud performing for 5000 middle school students. October 6, 2006 at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass School Day, a Daniel Pearl World Music Days event.
Award-winning Canadian violinist and fiddle player Samantha Robichaud, a 2005 recipient of the Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin, has just released her latest CD, A New Stage featuring "Always Remembered," an instrumental dedicated to Daniel Pearl. Samantha will perform this piece in her upcoming tour of the United States this fall, including an appearance at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco on October 4, 2008. To listen to "Always Remembered," please click here.
"Isn't It Golden Now" by Peter Himmelman
Peter Himmelman is a critically lauded rock troubadour and creator of children's music wrote the song "Isn't It Golden Now" for Danny.
"For five years I've found myself thinking about Danny. The words fixated, or obsessed come to mind, but they aren't quite right. It's more like a profound empathy I suppose; a sense of a kinship unrequited. I accorded Danny a sort of heroic status and l looked to him as the penultimate follower of one's muse. I thought about how bereft I felt, never having had Daniel Pearl as a friend." - Peter Himmelman
Herencia Judia featuring "Kaddish Para Daniel" by Benjamin Lapidus
Latin music scholar and master of the Cuban tres (a small guitar with three pairs of strings), Benjamin Lapidus' new CD Herencia Judia, released in April 2008, includes a composition titled "Kaddish para Daniel," an arrangement that blends the guaguancó (Cuban rumba beat) with the Jewish prayer Half Kaddish, chanted in Aramaic, followed by a tribute song in Spanish.
"The song describes my feelings of shock, sadness, and anger while pointing out that Daniel Pearl was indeed a pearl whose legacy stands for morality, faith in fellow man, family, and the pursuit of the truth. Singing this song brings back all of the emotions and memories associated with Daniel Pearl, someone I did not know personally, but felt as though I had known my entire life."- Benjamin Lapidus
To listen, please click here.
2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Violin Winners Announced in San Diego
From left to right:
2006 violin winner Phoebe Hunt
2007 violin winner Ruby Jane Smith
Judea Pearl
Mark O'Connor, Member of World Music Days Honorary Committee
2008 violin winners Sam Weiser and Ian Stewart violin-maker Jonathan Cooper
Ruth Pearl
2003 violin winner Jeremy Kittel.
On August 1st, Judea and Ruth Pearl attended Mark O'Connor's Strings Conference camp for young musicians in San Diego where the two Daniel Pearl Memorial Violins were awarded to the 2008 Winners: Ian Stewart, 16, of Austin, Texas, and Sam Weiser, 14, of Westport, Conn. Crafted by Jonathan Cooper of Maine, the violins are given to two promising young musicians to use for one year. This brings to 10 the number of the memorial violin "Ambassadors," who spread the message of "Harmony for Humanity" worldwide.
JOURNALISM
Daniel Pearl Journalism Fellowships
The Foundation, in partnership with the Alfred Friendly Press Fellowships, brings these mid-career reporters from South Asia and the Middle East to work for six months in a major U.S. newsroom and participate in national seminars. The Daniel Pearl Fellows also work for one week at a Jewish publication where many are introduced to Jewish colleagues for the first time.
This program enables journalists from countries where Danny worked to experience the practical workings of U.S. newsrooms, as well as gain a new perspective on reporting techniques. Past Fellows have capitalized on their experience by offering seminars and training in objective reporting to their colleagues back home. In May 2008, our first Daniel Pearl Fellow, Pakistani journalist Fasih Ahmed, won the New York Press Club's Best Spot News Award 2007 for coverage of the Benazir Bhutto assassination for Newsweek. Ammara Durrani, the second Daniel Pearl journalism fellow, has recently accepted a position as an aide to the Pakistani Minister of Information & Broadcasting. In her new position, Durrani is assisting the Minister and the Government of Pakistan to evolve and implement communications strategies for Pakistan's public diplomacy and counter-terrorism efforts.
2008 Daniel Pearl Journalist Fellows Public Discussion
This year's fellowship recipients were Utku Çakirözer of Turkey, hosted by the Los Angeles Times and Umar Cheema of Pakistan, hosted by the New York Times. Both appeared at the Los Angeles Press Club on August 14 for a free public discussion moderated by Rob Eshman, editor in chief of The Jewish Journal. Click here for Rob Eshman's related article.
Daniel Pearl Editorial Fellows
This program is conducted in partnership with the International Center for Journalists. Two mid-career editors from the Middle East or South Asia spend four weeks in U.S. newsrooms and a few days at a Jewish publication, learning about life in America, as well as practical editorial techniques that they can bring back to their countries of origin. In September, the Foundation is hosting two editors from Pakistan: Ms. Mahim Maher, City Editor of the Daily Times in Karachi and Ansar Ahmad Abbasi, Investigations Editor of the News in Islamabad.
PEARL World Youth News
PEARL World Youth News is a unique Internet-based international high school student news service formed in partnership with iEARN. To date, 93 students in 13 countries have participated, and 20 teachers have taken the PEARL Online Professional Development Course on how to integrate journalism studies into their curriculum.
In November 2007, high school students from the Durham Academy in North Carolina participated in a two-day workshop on the PEARL World Youth News reporter program, including online discussions with PEARL reporters from Pakistan, Oman, Vietnam and the United Kingdom, as well as with Judea Pearl and Ruth Pearl. In December 2007, PEARL Reporter Sultan Mehmood organized a workshop at his high school in Gilgit, Pakistan covering the PEARL reporter certification course with a focus on the principles of good journalism. Students discussed the media in Pakistan and government policies against freedom of the press.
Throughout 2008, the PEARL project has been presented at numerous education-related conferences, including the National Council for the Social Studies Conference in Washington, D.C., International Studies Schools Association Conference in Portland, Oregon and the National Educational Computing Conference in San Diego, California, as well as at the iEARN International Conference in Cairo, Egypt. The PEARL Web site is in the process of being upgraded to add tools that support multi-media reporting methods. The PEARL teacher development course is also being expanded to include new media reporting tools that allow educational professionals to better integrate journalism into their schools' curriculum.
DIALOGUE
Daniel Pearl Dialogues for Muslim-Jewish Understanding
Professors Akbar Ahmed and Judea Pearl conducted a first of its kind Online Daniel Pearl Dialogue for Muslim-Jewish Understanding, April 28 - May 12, 2008, through Beliefnet.com. The professors also appeared in front of a capacity crowd April 7, 2008, at the University of Southern Maine in Portland. For more information about this award-wining program, please click here.
LECTURES
Annual Daniel Pearl Memorial Lectures at UCLA and Stanford
New York Times columnist David Brooks delivered the 6th Annual Daniel Pearl Memorial Lecture at UCLA on February 26 co-sponsored by Hillel and the Burkle Center at UCLA. Introduced by new UCLA Chancellor Gene Block, Brooks spoke to a capacity crowd at Korn Convocation Hall on journalism, world culture and politics, captivating the audience with his humor, wit and insight. To listen to audio of the lecture, click here.
The 2008 Stanford Memorial Lecture will be presented on November 10, 2008, by Professor Philip G. Zimbardo, of Stanford University, who will speak on "The Journey from Evil to Heroism." The 2009 UCLA Lecture will be presented by CNN's Anderson Cooper. Please check our Events Page for upcoming details and location.
Lectures by Judea Pearl
As president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, Judea Pearl has spoken throughout the country this year on topics including "The Ideological War in the Middle East," "Being Jewish in the Post 9/11 Era," "Jews, Israel & Palestine: The Case for Coexistence" and "Carving a Path for Interfaith Dialogue." He also has published numerous Op-Ed pieces that have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Timesand The Jerusalem Post, among others. Additionally, Dr. Pearl received an honorary degree from Chapman University where he delivered the Commencement Speech, " On Truth and Freedom" on May 17, 2008.
On April 17, 2008, Dr. Judea Pearl was the recipient of the 2008 Benjamin Franklin Medal in Computer and Cognitive Science "for creating the first general algorithms for computing and reasoning with uncertain evidence, allowing computers to uncover associations and causal connections hidden within millions of observations. His work has had a profound impact on artificial intelligence and statistics, as well as problem solving in science, medicine and engineering."
AWARDS
Los Angeles Press Club, Daniel Pearl Award
On June 21, 2008, ABC News correspondent Bob Woodruff, who was seriously injured while reporting in Iraq, was presented with the Daniel Pearl Award for Courage and Integrity in Journalism at the 50th Annual Southern California Journalism Awards gala in Los Angeles.
The South Asian Journalists Association Daniel Pearl Award
The seventh Daniel Pearl Award, for outstanding print reporting on South Asia by U.S. and Canadian journalists, was presented to Yaroslav Trofimov of The Wall Street Journal as part of the South Asian Journalists Association's (SAJA) international convention and 14th annual dinner on June 20-21, 2008, which was attended by 1,000 journalists and guests from North America, Europe and South Asia. As South Asia bureau chief of The Wall Street Journal, Danny was a regular participant in SAJA's cyber activities.
2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Intern
Jennifer Martinez, a Stanford graduate student working toward a master's degree in communication, was chosen as the 2008 Daniel Pearl Memorial Journalism Intern. She worked this summer in the London bureau of The Wall Street Journal, where Danny resided from 1996 through 1998. For her essay click here.
The 2008 Daniel Pearl Berkshire Scholarship
This prize of $1,000 went to Samantha DeManbey, a Monument Mountain High School student who served on the staff of her school newspaper, Maroon Reflections, and won an honorable mention in last year's Berkshire Film Festival for a her documentary "Day of Peace." DeManbey recently started Fitchburg State College as a film and journalism major. In her scholarship essay, she wrote:
"Pursuing a career in journalism would be a meaningful way to find out what is going on in the world and make people aware of the problems we face today. I want to create documentaries which I hope will inform and move people in a way that makes them think and want to create change."
Three Daniel Pearl Prizes Awarded to Journalism Students in Paris
The Wall Street Journal, in collaboration with Paris' Ecole de Journalisme de Sciences Po, presents the Daniel Pearl Award annually to students whose submissions best embody Danny's commitment to journalistic excellence. The 4th Annual Daniel Pearl Award was presented in June 2008 to Thomas Saintourens for "Forcible Return to Bamako," with second prize going to Elise Barthet for "Maid in Lebanon" and third prize to Jérôme Lefilliâtre for "Clandestine Migrants: the Traffickers' Toll."
The ADL/Moss Family Daniel Pearl Award
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) will be honoring Rabbi Harold Schulweis with the ADL Daniel Pearl Award in November at a presentation in Los Angeles for his contribution to bridging the communication divide between Jews and Muslims. The ADL Daniel Pearl Award, endowed by Ruth and George Moss, is given annually to the person who has made the most positive impact on the image of Jews and Judaism in the Muslim World. Past recipients include Tom Friedman, New York Times columnist, Jeffrey Goldberg, Washington Correspondent of The New Yorker and Robert Satloff, Executive Director, Washington Institute.
Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis is the spiritual leader of Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, California, and the author of many books. He is the Founding Chairman of the Jewish Foundation for the Righteous and a member of the Honorary Board of the Daniel Pearl Foundation.
Thank you for supporting our vision for a better world.
The programs of the Daniel Pearl Foundation are made possible by people like you. We hope you will reaffirm your generosity by supporting our mission to educate, unite and inspire the next generations to work for a hate-free world.
To make a contribution, or view acknowledgment of our supporters, visit:
www.danielpearl.org/ways_to_help/make_a_donation.html
To join our volunteer program, or to update your contact
information, email volunteers@danielpearl.org
The Daniel Pearl Foundation is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; our tax ID number is 03-0393564.
CONTACT US
THE DANIEL PEARL FOUNDATION
16161 Ventura Blvd., # 671
Encino, CA 91436
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